‘You need to leave’: Operation Dudula to Chidimma [video]

· The South African

Anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula has advised Chidimma Adetshina to leave South Africa amid the Department of Home Affairs’s bid to detain and deport her after her citizenship was revoked.

The protest group, as well as that of March and March, picketed outside the Cape Town Regional Court where the model and beauty queen appeared on Wednesday, 19 August.

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The court has postponed judgement to February 2027 amid Chidimma’s challenge to the High Court. 

The former Miss Universe Nigeria has argued that she cannot be held liable for the actions of her Mozambican mother, who was found to have committed identity fraud when registering her birth.

OPERATION DUDULA TELLS CHIDIMMA TO ‘LEAVE SOUTH AFRICA’

On Wednesday, 19 August, the Cape Town Regional High Court postponed final judgment in Chidimma Adetshina’s case to 27 February 2027.

Magistrate Jane Kgorane stated that this was due to the court reviewing the model and beauty queen’s application to the High Court to reinstate her South African citizenship.

This follows a bid by the Department of Home Affairs to have the 25-year-old detained amid deportation proceedings. 

The department alleges that Chidimma’s South African citizenship documents and those of her minor son, were obtained through identity fraud by her mother.

As a result, she lacks a valid legal basis or immigration status to remain in the country.

Speaking outside court, members of the anti-immigrant groups Operation Dudula and March and March led a protest calling on the court to uphold the state’s bid.

Operation Dudula Interim president Zodwa Booi told eNCA: “Chidimma herself decided to come through a Mozambican border to come into the country illegally. We, as Operation Dudula, are saying no to illegal people in our country, regardless of who you are, whether you grew up here.

“If you are illegal, you need to leave our country and come back when you apply for proper documentation. We disagree with her about whether she grew up here, but just like everybody else, and nothing special about her…We are expecting the court to make the right decision.

Booi stated that if the court reinstated Chidimma’s citizenship, then “that means they are saying that to everybody else, and they are sending the wrong message. She must go back, she must be deported from this country”

She added of the postponement to February 2027: “It’s too long”

Meanwhile, March and March founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has accused Chidimma of being a “fraud”.

“Always there defending the country… until we win”, Jacinta shared on Facebook about the protest action.

MOBBED BY PROTESTORS

In a statement to the media following court proceedings, Chidimma Adetshina defended her decision to challenge the authorities to have her South African citizenship reinstated.

The mother-of-one has argued that she cannot be held liable for her mother’s fraudulent action, stating that both she and her minor son were born in South Africa and have longstanding ties to the country. She also stated that she should be allowed to resolve her immigration status rather than being deported.

She said, “I remind everyone that I was born in South Africa. I have applied through the proper legal channels to have my status and citizenship determined.  I believe that I have been treated unfairly and targeted, and there has been an attempt to make me an example.  But my message is not going to be one out of anger. 

“South Africa is governed by the rule of law, and we should not allow xenophobia and misinformation to determine how people are going to be treated. We should always be guided by the spirit of Ubuntu. 

Outside of court, tensions escalated as protestors mobbed Chidimma and her family, calling on them to go back to Nigeria, where her father is from.

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